China-Africa Cooperation Has Remarkable Global Significance—— Interview with Hu Biliang, Dean of Emerging Markets Institute, Beijing Normal

Recent years, China-Africa cooperation has achieved remarkable results. Hu Biliang, dean of the Emerging Markets Institute of BeijingNormal University, said in an interview with the Economic Daily that China and Africa have obvious comparative advantages and that cooperation between the two sides can effectively promote mutual benefit and win-win results, promote their own development, and contribute to the cause of global poverty reduction. It is of great significance to promote world peace.

Hu Biliang said that for African countries, the lack of adequate infrastructure is an important constraint on their development. In 2012, the African Union AU adopted an infrastructure development plan to promote cooperation between China and Africa. The Chinese side has consciously complied with their development plans. In the demand of Africa, China has engaged in the construction of infrastructure there, such as railways, roads, ports, power stations and communications facilities. In recent years, China's infrastructure investment in Africa has increased at a rate of more than 10% per year. The Africa counterpart is generally highly praised for China's participation in the construction of infrastructure projects.it.

In 2007, the AU put forward plans to promote industrialization, but it’s progress was in a slow pace for a long time, Hu said. In addition, agriculture in Africa also faces some noticeable problems, such as food security---more than half of African countries need to import food. Africa's grain yield per acre is also very low which is about half of the world average. Hu Biliang emphasized.

"In 2015, while President Xi Jinping was attending the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum On China-Africa Cooperation in South Africa; mentioned that China-Africa cooperation should aim at accelerating the process of both the industrialization and agricultural modernization in Africa. Therefore, China has accelerated to help Africa realize industrialization. China's hybrid rice technology has also been being popularized in Africa, effectively helping African countries raise grain yields per acre and solve their food security problems," Hu Biliang said.

Hu Biliang mentioned, in recent years, some new highlights have emerged from China-Africa cooperation, and "African countries are increasingly eager to learn from China's development experience," Hu said. Furthermore, the Belt and Road construction  in Africa has begun to produce win-win results, which will be a positive trend for future cooperation between China and Africa.

Hu Biliang further expressed, during the process of cooperation between China and Africa, China has also benefited a lot. Africa is rich in natural resources,  China can import oil,  mineral and  other resources,  through free-market-based cooperation. In addition, China-Africa cooperation is conducive to expanding China's investment market and promoting supply-side structural reforms in China, because reforms cannot base on an enclosed environment, and must have a global version.    

Hu Biliang indicated that China-Africa cooperation is not only conducive to the development of both sides, but also helps to promote the cause of global poverty reduction and world peace. Moreover, "China-Africa cooperation has a huge impact on global poverty reduction. The combined  population of  China and Africa is close to 40% of the world’s population, and the proportion of impoverished people is high, and therefore if the two sides carry out good cooperation to solve the poverty problem, it will make great contributions to the poverty reduction globally. Moreover, favorable cooperation between China and Africa can also provide solutions to some global problems, such as counter-terrorism. "

When it refers to the role of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Hu Biliang said that this Forum is promoting China-Africa cooperation very efficiently. "China-Africa cooperation has started very early. In the early days, it was mainly about political cooperation" he said. , the Forum was launched in 2000, and so far has been an efficient mechanism leading China-Africa. Through high-level mechanisms such as leaders' meetings and ministerial meetings, both sides have discussed many key projects, made many key plans, and effectively implemented them. Thus, the influence of this mechanism is growing in Africa, and it is also universally recognized by African countries. (Yuan Yong, reporter of Economic Daily)